I really like that the Microsoft SQL Server dev team are so open now with the issues and ideas they have for developing and improving the product. An example of one such situation is with the SQL Server Management tools blog. 1) Fix up the reports yourselves and post them on your blogs/communities 2) Tell me what's wrong or file a bug in MS Connect and enter the suggested T-SQL... and we'll review it and try to get it into a Service Pack." While it might initially sound like an admission of weakness, I believe that it's actually the opposite. At the end of the day, other bloggers and/or MVPs such as Simon Sabin posted fixes for the bugs in the reports, the problem was fixed, and the product was improved. In essence, the power of open source was tapped. You can read all the details at http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlrem/archive/2006/08/30/SSMS_Reports_3.aspx.
It takes a lot of bravery to step up and point out areas where you can do better. And I think that Microsoft probably didn't have the intestinal fortitude to do so in earlier versions of the product. Here's a case in point, back in August of 2006, Paul Mestemaker, the program manager for manageability, posted the RDL files for the SQL Server Management Studio system health reports (that's the actual code, btw) as well as some concerns he had about the performance of specific reports. And I quote:
"Secondly... if any of you can figure out a better way to write any of the reports and would like to share your changes you can do so in two ways...
Enjoy!
-Kevin
SSMS Reports
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